A message from the Stonebridge Working Group (SWG):
At the July 30th Stonebridge Community meeting the Stonebridge Working Group (SWG) presented a proposal that ensures the longevity of the Stonebridge Golf Course lands. The proposal recognizes that the Stonebridge Community wishes to preserve its golf course and green space lands while at the same time recognizing Mattamy’s rights as private owner of the lands to fully develop the lands as it so wishes.
Ultimately, this proposal to the Stonebridge Community has 2 components: the first one is the acquisition of the lands for $6M and the elimination of further development on the golf course and the second one is a way to finance the acquisition. Both of these components will be subject to the approval of the Stonebridge Community.
The first part of the proposal involves Mattamy agreeing to redesign the golf course to a par 70/6,000 yard course, to maintain the golf course’s Audubon certification, to keep operating the Stonebridge Golf Course to its current standards for a period of no less than 10 years, to trigger a 2 year notice to the community in the event it decides to get out of the golf course business and to provide the option to the community to acquire the lands ($6 million) on the condition that those lands be ONLY used for the operation of a golf course or be converted to passive green space.
The second part of the proposal consists of finding a way to finance the acquisition of the lands in 2029. The SWG is actively working with the City on a proposed funding mechanism, that will provide the necessary funds when needed. It is the establishment of a City-administered levy for which a community wide vote would be required later in the fall. The funds to be raised by the levy, over a period of 9 years, would cover land acquisition, taxes, legal fees and provide a reserve fund to either continue operating the Stonebridge Golf Course or convert the lands to passive green space.
The SWG believes the proposed solution is an opportunity to provide assurance to the Stonebridge community that no further development will occur on the golf course lands, to preserve property values for all residences in the community, and to ensure residents the quality of life they expected when moving to Stonebridge.
Further community interaction is on-going and further details are being worked on. The SWG will hold another community meeting after considering feedback from the community and before any decisions are made.
Stonebridge residents can access the presentation posted at www.stonebridgeca.com and are encouraged to provide their survey feedback at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SWGsolutionfeedback by August 20th.
Kind regards,
Aline Gossein, Mike Kujawski, James MacRae, Jay McLean, Stephanie Newell, Nicole Parent, Ron Reddick, Niraj Singhal, Karin Taylor, Brad Wright